The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) gave the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) a two-week deadline to pay the examiners who marked the 2022 exams; else, they will organize their members to occupy Mitihani House.
The union said that more than 40,000 examiners have not received their wages since the teachers finished grading the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in January. Payment delays for the allowances have turned into a recurring issue for Knec.
In a statement by Kuppet chair Omboko Milemba, the union also complain about low rates for marking, an issue that saw some teachers boycott the marking of CRE Paper One at St Francis Girls High School in Mang’u in Kiambu County.
The assignment came after a heavily-packed school year in which teachers hardly took a break from work. The work itself is characterised by poor conditions including long hours, poor accommodation in students’ dormitories, poor diets and, above all, low pay,” Mr Milemba said.
He added that the conditions have remained unaddressed for long, terming the marking “a suffering ritual” for teachers.
Knec collaborates with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to deploy teachers to invigilate and supervise national examination and later mark them.
The examinations will be replaced by school-based assessments which are administered within the regular school timetable.
